Large expanses of concrete flooring such as is found in multi-level car parks are after a period of time, due to deterioration, in need of repair, in whole or in part.
Replacement of significant areas of concrete flooring has in one method involved the chipping and breaking up of the concrete by means of pneumatic hammers. This piecemeal breakup is messy, noisy and results in relatively small pieces of loose concrete.
An alternative method presently in use involves the more favourable practise of cutting by means of a concrete cutter of the, typically, 8" to 12" (0.2 m-0.3 m) thick concrete floor into rectangular slabs of concrete. Typically, the concrete floor is carved into rectangular blocks, for example, 8'.times.3'.times.8" (2.4 m.times.0.95 m.times.0.2 m) or 4'.times.4'.times.8" (1.2 m.times.1.2 m).times.0.2 m) slabs, with removal of each individual slab being carried out using the forks of a fork-lift truck stationery on the floor below the cut floor. The forks are held aloft of the loader and positioned below and adjacent to the slab to be cut such that after the cutting operation the slab is levered onto the forks. This method is not satisfactory since the raised forks abut the slab to be removed prior to cutting. This is inherently dangerous since there is the possibility that the very heavy concrete slab could either miss or fall off the forks and cause personal injury or equipment damage. Accordingly, there is a need for a safer method of slab removal.